Sun Temple Research Articles

BEES AND BEEKEEPING IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Throughout the ancient Egyptian history until the Roman times,[i] the bee was a favored insect by the ancient Egyptians.[ii] It was used as a symbol of Kingship in Lower Egypt and appeared in ancient texts and tomb monuments.[iii] It was also linked to several major gods and was mentioned in the Pyramid texts and the ancient Egyptian Mythology. Its honey was included in several religious rituals, was presented as offerings not only to the gods but also to the dead and was used in many aspects of their lives.[iv]Historical evidences today show that the ancient Egyptians were the first to practice beekeeping in history. The earliest evidence of such practice was as early as the Fifth Dynasty, Old Kingdom, in the sun temple of king Nyuserra, which contains a relief depicting beekeeping.[v] This article will focus on the nature, name of bees, historical evidence of beekeeping, its culture and religious role in ancient Egypt. Bibliography [i]G.T. THOMAS, ‘Religious Background for Virgil’s Bee Symbol in the Georgics’, Vergilius (1959-) No.24 (1978),32. [ii] M.R. BUNSON, Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (New York, 2002), 67. [iii]THOMAS, Vergilius (1959-) No.24 (1978), 32. [iv] N. B. HANSEN, ‘Insects’, in B.D. REDFORD (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, vol.2 (Oxford, 2001), 161. [v]G. KRITSKY, The Quest for the Perfect Hive, A History of Innovation in Bee Culture (Oxford, 2010), 11

Lichens growth on Sun Temple of Konark in Odisha, India- A curse or blessing

The present observation on the famous Sun Temple of Konark, Odisha for Lichen growth revealed that a more than 500 different spots were found on main temple, small sculptures erected within the temple premises and boundary walls. A total of 15 species belonging 14 genera and 11 families were found growing on the sites surveyed. Ten lichen species tightly adhere to the substrate forming crust (crustose lichen) and producing secondary metabolites were dominated on almost all the sites while only four leafy (foliose lichen) species and one squamulose species were recorded.

Lichens growth on Sun Temple of Konark in Odisha, India- A curse or blessing

The present observation on the famous Sun Temple of Konark, Odisha for Lichen growth revealed that a more than 500 different spots were found on main temple, small sculptures erected within the temple premises and boundary walls. A total of 15 species belonging 14 genera and 11 families were found growing on the sites surveyed. Ten lichen species tightly adhere to the substrate forming crust (crustose lichen) and producing secondary metabolites were dominated on almost all the sites while only four leafy (foliose lichen) species and one quamulose species were recorded.

Giraffe, Giraffe, Camel!

Giraffe, Giraffe, Camel!

Old fights, new meanings: Lions and elephants in combat

Old fights, new meanings: Lions and elephants in combat

Death and the Sun Temple: New Evidence for Private Mortuary Cults at Amarna

This article places the Sunshade of Re at Kom el-Nana within the context of inscriptions relating to other Sunshades of Re, in particular those relating to the Sunshade of Re of Hatshepsut. While the Sunshade of Re at Kom el-Nana served the solar cult of the Aten, overseen by the regenerative aspects of royal Amarna women, it also served as a locus for the mortuary cults of the non-royal or noble courtiers at Tell el-Amarna. It is also proposed that Kom el-Nana could have been understood as a type of mortuary locale, with the added possibility that all Aten temples at Amarna may have had a similar function.

Advanced geometrical constructs in a Pueblo ceremonial site, c 1200 CE

Summer 2015 marked the 100th anniversary of the excavation by J.W. Fewkes of the Sun Temple in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado; an ancient complex prominently located atop a mesa, constructed by the ancestral Pueblo peoples approximately 800years ago. While the D-shaped structure is generally recognized by modern Pueblo peoples as a ceremonial complex, the exact uses of the site are unknown, although the site has been shown to have key solar and lunar alignments.In this study, we examined the potential that the site was laid out using advanced knowledge of geometrical constructs. Using aerial imagery in conjunction with ground measurements, we performed a survey of key features of the site. We found apparent evidence that the ancestral Pueblo peoples laid out the site using the Golden rectangle, Pythagorean 3:4:5 triangles, equilateral triangles, and 45° right triangles.The survey also revealed that a single unit of measurement, L=30.5±0.5cm, or one third of that, appeared to be associated with many key features of the site. Further study is needed to determine if this unit of measurement is common to other ancestral Pueblo sites, and also if geometric constructs are apparent at other sites.These findings represent the first potential quantitative evidence of knowledge of advanced geometrical constructs in a prehistoric North American society, which is particularly remarkable given that the ancestral Pueblo peoples had no written language or number system.

Multi-Pronged Search for Palaeo-Channels near Konark Temple, Odisha - Implications for the Mythical River Chandrabhaga

The 13th century CE Sun Temple at Konark in Odisha, India, is believed to have been built at the mouth of an ancient river named Chandrabhaga. This mythical river figures prominently in ancient literature, although at present no river exists in the proximity of the Konark Sun Temple. This study investigates the possibility of existence of a 'lost' river system near Konark through integrated geological and geophysical exploration in conjunction with historical evidence. Landsat, Aster Terra Look and Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission images have been used to identify and delineate the channel of an ancient river. A number of thematic maps have been generated and analysed in analytical hierarchy process and later integrated on a GIS platform to delineate the most probable trace of a palaeo-channel. The existence of a palaeo-channel at some locations is further corroborated through shallow surface geophysics using ground penetrating radar. The identified palaeochannel passes north of the Konark Sun Temple, extending approximately parallel to the coast.

Autos seguidos por el provisor de naturales del arzobispado de México contra el ídolo del Gran Nayar (1722-1723)

This eighteenth-century document is the testimony of the autos carried out by Father Juan Ignacio de Castorena y Ursua against the religious practices, specifically the placement of a sacred bundle in front of their Sun Temple, of the Corachol group the Nayari. Moreno provides interesting historical background for the material, including a description of the bundle and details conceming its fate at the hands of the Spaniards.

SEISMIC STUDY OF MODHERA SUN TEMPLE

Monuments have been created for thousands of years, and they are often the most durable and famous symbols of ancient civilizations. They have witnessed many earthquakes with ominously less damage. The purpose of this project is to analyze the static and dynamic properties of ancient Indian monuments. For that purpose Modhera Sun Temple, Gujarat has been taken as the Monument. The 3D modelling and analysis is done by using Sap2000V.15 software. Seismic Co-efficient analysis, modal analysis and Time History analysis is performed on the model.

A note on the occurrence ofXanthoparmelia saxeti(Stizenb.) Amo, A. Crespo, Elix & Lumbsch in India

The paper describes for the first time the occurrence of Xanthoparmelia saxeti (Stizenb.) Amo, A. Crespo, Elix and Lumbsch in Himalaya, where it was found growing over siliceous rocks in and around Sun Temple, Kosi Katarmal, Almora district, Uttarakhand. Previously, the species was reported for the first time under the name Karoowia saxeti from Karnantaka and recently Divakar and colleagues collected specimens from the same state, but the species had not been previously mentioned by any Indian worker from India. A brief description of the species along with the status of Karoowia and Xanthoparmelia is given in the text.

Configuring Sacred Spaces: Archaeology, Temples, and Monument-Making in Colonial Orissa

This essay explores the problems of archaeological conservation of ancient temples in active worship in colonial India, specifically in the province of Orissa. Colonial archeology's investment in conserving these temples asserted the proprietary rights of the colonial state over the history and heritage of the colony. However, subjecting old structural remains to new regimes of historicity remained a process fraught with tensions. During the opening decades of the twentieth century, Orissa emerged as a critical site of contestation between colonial archaeology's regime of ‘secular’ historicist jurisdiction over ancient temples and the ‘traditional religious’ rights exercised at these very sites. In exploring these sites of contestation, the essay juxtaposes archaeology's involvement at the practicing temples of Bhubaneswar and Puri with the archaeological conservation of the deserted Sun Temple at Konarak. The study does not posit the domain of ‘religious’ practice as a seamlessly continuous space of tradition ruptured by colonial archaeology's modern regime of monument making. It argues instead that the new configurations of sacred spaces around old temples were predicated upon colonial archaeology's historicist preoccupations with ancient monuments and its commitment to conserving pre-modern temples and shrines as ‘secular’ historical vestiges of a lost past.

Después del Pachakuti. Tiempo mitológico aymara y ciencia ficción

En la contratapa de la novela De cuando en cuando Saturnina de Alison Spedding se afirma que ésta es la “la primera novela de ciencia ficción originaria escrita en castellano andino, aymara y spanglish”. La novela narra “la vida y milagros” de Saturnina Mamani Guarache, más conocida como la Satuka, navegadora espacial y activista política, que se hizo famosa a nivel interplanetario después de su temeraria participación en la destrucción de la luna marciana de Fobos (último reducto de supremacía blanca) en el 2079. Dos años más tarde, en 2081, Satuka reapareció en los medios y fue detenida en el Perú, identificada como cabecilla del “Comando Flora Tristán”, un grupo subversivo anarco feminista. La detención se produjo después de que el grupo, en un atentado terrorista, destruyera el recién restaurado templo de Coricancha, antiguo Templo del Sol incaico en Cusco. Así pues, por medio de las delirantes aventuras de este personaje, se puede acceder al interior de un mundo que hasta entonces había permanecido vedado para ojos extranjeros: la historia del Qullasuyu Marka, conformado por la mayor parte de la ex-Bolivia y el departamento peruano de Puno.Al mismo tiempo, en la novela es posible leer una reactualización de los mitos andinos prehispánicos en un contexto tan novedoso como es la ciencia ficción.

AN ASTRONOMICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE SEVENTEEN HUNDRED YEAR OLD NEKRESI FIRE TEMPLE IN THE EASTERN PART OF GEORGIA

The Nekresi Fire Temple is a second to third century A.D. archaeological site in eastern Georgia that was excavated by archaeologists towards the end of the twentieth century. In 2004 we carried out an archaeoastronomical investigation of this site, which indicated that it was used for astronomical observations. We now suggest that this structure should be renamed the 'Nekresi Sun Temple'.

Shelley's Sun Temple in Prometheus Unbound

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeKeywords: Dante Alighierilight imageryPrometheus UnboundPercy Bysshe Shelley

Emesa and Baalbek: Where is the Temple of Elahagabal?

The great Sun temple of Emesa, mentioned by Herodian in his account of the revolt of Elagabalus, has never been found. Recently, Warwick Ball has suggested that it is to be identified with the temple complex at Baalbek. The evidence which he provides for this assertion, however, does not prove his case and in some cases rests upon false assumptions. When the textual, archaeological and epigraphic evidence is examined, it is clear that the temple must have been in the city of Emesa itself, and therefore it is yet to be located.

Chlorophyll stability of epilithic cyanobacteria from temples of India

The cyanobacterial cells inhabiting the crust of Sun temple, Konark react to TTC by forming reddish formazan crystals for SH groups. Pretreatment with up to 5 M urea, 1% hydrogen peroxide or heating the crust in dry state at 60 °C up to 1 hour had no effect on TTC reduction. Keeping the crusts in desiccated state up to 4 months also did not reduce their TTC reduction activity, whereas exposing to heat by keeping in a waterbath (wet state) even for 10 minutes rendered the cyanobacterial cells inactive. All these tests indicate that TTC reduction is due to presence of SH groups in epilithic cyanobacterial cells exposed to bright sunlight. The cyanobacterial component of the tuft of Kedar-Gouri temple also reduced TTC. But the activity was lost after pretreatment with heat (60 °C) in wet or dry state, upon exposure to H 2 O 2 , urea and also when kept in a desiccator for a prolonged period. This showed that the cyanobacterium Tolypothrix byssoidea inhabiting the crust of Sun temple, Konark was comparatively more tolerant to adverse conditions than that of the epilithic tuft of Kedar-Gouri temple containing T. scytonemoides. Chlorophyll a, carotenoid and scytonemin pigment content of the cells of both the organisms was reduced on heat treatment in wet state was more detrimental for pigment synthesis than the heat treatment in dry state. Chlorophyll stability index showed that the tufts containing T. scytonemoides was more susceptible to heat injury than that of T. byssoidea which occur as crust on the temple walls.

Population dynamics of earthworms during crop rotation under rainfed agriculture in central Himalayas, India

The density and seasonal distribution patterns of three to five earthworm species was observed in relation to crop rotations during a period of 2 years in three localities ((a) Sun temple site; (b) Small tank site; (c) Dak bunglow site) in the rainfed upland agricultural system of central Himalayan district of Almora, India. Earthworm species composition at Sun tample site was different from the Dak bunglow site and Small tank site. Drawida sp. was dominant at the Sun tample site whereas Lennogaster yeicus and Metaphire holutii were dominant at the Dak bunglow site. Maximum earthworm density (200 m −2) was recorded in the late rainy season in the rice crop mixture and in Eleusine coracana (finger millet) crop mixture (335 m −2) sown following the harvest of winter wheat crop. Ploughing, harrowing and cult-discing the soils in the agricultural system during crop rotation had adverse effect on earthworm species populations. Ploughing back of crop byproducts along with the addition of the organic manure encouraged increase in the earthworm populations.

The Phoenix in Rabbinic Literature

Contact between cultures is a complex phenomenon that often involves accepting foreign ideas until these become new ways of self-expression. The case of the phoenix is of special interest, in this respect, because in antiquity it was associated with the sun temple at Heliopolis and miraculous forms of rebirth. The phoenix motif also appears in a variety of early Jewish and Christian writings, thus allowing for a comparative appreciation of its rabbinic reception. In light of these other intercultural encounters, it becomes clear that the rabbis were familiar with the details of the Hellenistic phoenix myths, and not only adapted the story to their own values but even enhanced its mythological dimension. In this way, the rabbis continued the Hellenistic practice of reactivating an ancient Egyptian myth. In contrast to the symbolic approach of early Christianity, the rabbis characteristically chose to accommodate the phoenix on a literal level, interpreting it mythopoeically, that is, by creating myth. Their interpretation of the phoenix moreover illuminates important, yet hitherto unnoticed aspects of rabbinic mythology.

Decay of building stones: a mineralogical model for Konark Sun Temple, India. Technical note : Raymahashay, B C; Sharma, S Q J Engng GeolV26, N2, 1993, P79–96

Decay of building stones: a mineralogical model for Konark Sun Temple, India. Technical note : Raymahashay, B C; Sharma, S Q J Engng GeolV26, N2, 1993, P79–96